Computer use and the electronic transfer of information has increased substantially among home and business computer users. The growth in computer use has spurred a demand for creating computer networks to facilitate the transfer and sharing of information. For example, many companies provide computers for most, if not all employees, to facilitate the exchange of information among the employees via a computer network. Many companies have reduced cost associated with computing by adopting client/server networks to aid in the transfer of information between company computer systems. Networks within a business are often referred to as local area networks (LANs). A local area network is a group of computers and other devices disbursed over a relatively limited area and connected by a communications link that enables any device to interact with any other on the network. LANs often include microcomputers, mainframe computers and shared resources such as printers and hard disks. Many LANs can support a wide variety of computers and other devices. The devices connected to the LAN must use the proper physical and data-link protocols for the particular LAN, and all devices that communicate with each other use the same upper-level communications protocol.
By using client/server networks, companies consolidated many of their computer processing applications, databases or needs in a central computer processing center. With a central computer processing center containing most if not all the computer programs and databases of the company, programs that provide scheduling, inventory monitoring, order placement, account processing, or data exchange processing necessary for efficient management of the business may be readily obtained by a distributed group of workers. By providing a centralized operating environment with company records and programs, employees of large companies have access to and know of transactions being carried out or performed by other employees at the office although the employees may be located in different office buildings or different floors of the company. Therefore, several employees can work independently of each other to schedule customer appointments, take orders, process accounts and have the data records of the company updated in a centralized facility so as to avoid duplicative or conflicting actions.
As computer use and network use has increased in companies, so to has computer use and network use increased among individual home users. While these home users do not generally set up a special network to communicate with other home users, the home computer users, as well as businesses, can gain access to a global computer (wide area) network often referred to as the Internet. By gaining access to the Internet, all types of computer users may be connected.
Because many companies are aware of the growth of computer use in most environments, these companies seek to reach these users or potential customers through a computer network, which is most often the Internet computer network. Many companies reach the potential customers by providing one of several different types of methods of communicating over the network. For example, a business may provide a graphic advertisement over a computer network, an interactive request system to a special database set up for user interaction, or an interactive processing system that enables a customer to interact with a company's internal computer network. Companies usually desire to enable customers to access the internal company network to perform simple important tasks that reduce company overhead, such as processing banking account information or room scheduling for a hotel.
Although providing access to a company network and systems is desirable in many situations, it is not always practical for several reasons. For example, the internal networks of companies often contain confidential data such as inventory data, customers accounts, price structuring information, business leads and plans, and other business critical data. While this type data may not be generally accessed by customers, some customers or users may be skilled in defeating general security measures of computer systems and may access the confidential information. Computer users who attempt to compromise computer security systems are often referred to as computer hackers or crackers. Therefore, security concerns often can make access to a company's network risky or impractical. Additionally, many companies have invested from several thousand to millions of dollars on computer systems that incorporate mainframe/legacy systems. These mainframe/legacy systems are often specially designed for the business to process information quickly and efficiently in the business' environment. However, these legacy systems are not readily adaptable to interact directly with public networks such as the Internet to facilitate customers use. Particularly, the messaging systems of these legacy systems are not adapted to interact efficiently with the Internet public network. Furthermore, because legacy systems are custom designed systems, it can be a difficult task for a manager of the system to continually update the programming of the system to allow customers to access new or updated systems on the network and to account for a changing customer base.
With respect to the security of systems, many companies use a computer protection device, known as a firewall, in association with the company computer server that provides access to the Internet. A firewall is a device located on the Internet that examines the information in a header of a data communication and blocks entry if the header information contains or does not contain certain information. An experienced computer hacker can monitor Internet traffic and obtain the node address of an authorized or trusted user of the company's computer system then fake the address to obtain access to the company's computer system. A firewall does not prevent such deception. Current firewall technology provides limited protection against professional hackers. Additionally, firewalls only provide protection measures for information contained in headers and header information only contains standardized information as promulgated by a standards committee for Internet protocol. Due to the standardized nature of headers, firewalls do not provide flexible security options. Because the firewall is an Internet device, once this Internet security measure is broken the companies records are exposed to the computer hacker.
Thus, there is a need for a security system that enables a private network of computers to be accessible via an open network and that provides a higher level of security than that afforded by firewalls. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a network security system that enables a private computer network that incorporates specialized computer systems to be used in connection with an open network without substantial modification to the specialized computer systems. Furthermore, there is a need for a network security system that may be easily managed by a network security manager.